Here are just some of the holiday ad's I've really been enjoying this holiday season.
WalMart Thanks Our Troops I have to admit that when I first saw this ad it made me a little emotional. My heart always breaks a little for all the kids that are living with a parent stationed overseas and that goes double for the holidays. However, over the past few years I have seen some ads that seem to exploit this fact by creating ads based around this idea that are fairly insensitive. I think The Martin Agency did a great job with this ad. It's tastefully done and pulls on my heart strings every time I see it.
Target: Made by Elves In all honesty, this commercial just makes me laugh. That's all there is to it. A big improvement from their horrible Black Friday commercials.
Verizon: Misfit Toys I have been really enjoying Verizon's new commercials that go up against AT&T (more on that another time). My friend Jessica passed along this one to me after I Twittered about another Verizon ad. It's an amusing commercial that takes a great spin on those creepy animated children's holiday "classic" specials.
Time to get interactive. Actually, Brine has been interactive for a while now, but I finally found the time to sit down and join the tribe.
I first saw the Join the Tribe/Mask commercial during last season's NCAA Women's lacrosse finals. I love advertising, social media, and all things involved in my career choice, but lacrosse is my first true love. I loved the idea behind the commercial - using lacrosse equipment to create a tribal mask.
For those that do not know much about lacrosse, it is America’s oldest sport and was played by Native Americans for a number of reasons. It is not America’s fastest growing sport and is known as the fastest sport on two feet. I also like to refer to it as the best sport ever. (For more info on the history of lacrosse, visit the US Lacrosse website!)
But I digress. Brine invites its audience to “Join the Tribe” by logging onto its site to create a personalized tribal mask made of lacrosse equipment. Creators can choose to make a mask out of a pre-made mask, form a mask around a stencil, or start with a blank canvas. Users click and drag Brine equipment to form their mask and then can save them to the Brine gallery. There is also a download option that allows the new tribe members to download their mask in various sizes that include an iPhone and Icon-sized option. Brine also features tribe member’s masks in its print ads.
What I really like about this interactive campaign, besides the creative, is the ability to build a tighter community of lacrosse players. Plus, it’s fun! Check out my tribal mask below. It’s called “Raider” after my high school team where I began my lacrosse experience.
Here is a hodgepodge of the Dunkin Donuts commercials for Spike TV. They are pretty funny. My favorite, of course, is the ad at 1:02 that is the lacrosse ad (YES! I will ignore the fact that all the lacrosse sticks seem to be mens sticks). "Can't has no place in ladies lacrosse, gentlemen." If only I had known that line while coaching this past season... the rest are pretty great as well. ENJOY!
I Tweeted/Facebooked a request to my friends: Tell me your favorite ad (broadcast, print, etc.). Here are some of the responses.
VW Pink Moon (From Cole)
I vividly remember this commercial. What makes me laugh now is, from what one can actually see of the car, how out-of-date the Cabrio actually looks in the present. However, I remember it being a popular commercial and I attribute much of that to the calming, nostalgic feel of the commercial that is still very opposite of most car commercials that focus on the fast, powerful feeling of driving the advertised card.
"Bff Jill?" for Cingular (From Ellen)
Honestly I have yet to meet a person that doesn't like this commercial. Male or female, I've often heard "IDK, my BFF Jill?" quoted. Plus, the over-usage of the text lingo was comparable with filming the commercial in a different language... the viewers is drawn to watching just to figure out what is even being said. It still makes me laugh.
Think Before You Speak for AdCouncil (From Katelyn)
Unfortunately due to the small amount of air time PSAs receive, most people have not seen this commercial. Admittedly, I think I have only seen it once or twice. What I respect about AdCouncil PSAs is the use of comedy to draw the attention of viewers to become familiar with the issue being advertised. My favorite part of this commercial is the bluntness of having "Knock it off" at the end and the complete nonchalant tone of the woman's voice when she explains the use of "That's so Emily and Julia." Nice pick, Katelyn!
Schick Quattro TrimStyle for Women (From most females I know)
I don't feel this commercial even needs an explanation of why it's a favorite of many women. It is appropriate in the sense that a young viewer is not likely to understand the changing shape of the shrubbery. For someone that gets it, it is simply hilarious, but in a subtle way.
Supermodelquins for Old Navy (From various supermodelquins fans)
Personally, I am not a fan of the Supermodelquins. I think the commercials are cheesy and kind of dumb. What I am a fan of is how well these ads transition from television to in-store. When one enters an actual Old Navy store, the supermodelquins are there to greet them which instantly creates a connection from viewing the commercial to the actual brand experience.
There you have it, some of my friend's favorite ads (that, incidentally are all television ads).
I read an interesting article in the AdAge newsletter today about correlation between Twitter and Hollywood's box office success. Simon Dumenco's "Could Twitter Destroy Hollywood's Marketing Magic?" reflects on the recent Baltimore Sun article "Twitter Effect rattles Hollywood" written by Michael Sragow. Dumenco's article uses the Trendrr Chart of the Week to establish his observations between the relationship between the number of tweets and the movie's overall gross. It appears from the chart that the higher volume of tweets resulted in a higher box office income. However, what Dumenco misses that Sragow gets is that it is not necessarily the quantity of tweets, but the content of the tweets. While the quantity of tweets helps the topic reach "Trending Topics" status, I personally recall "Bruno" being a trending topic that was accompanied by an overwhelming amount of negative tweets.
It is very apparent that Twitter is really beginning to have an impact on word-of-mouth promotion and demotion not only on movies, but television series, music, and other brands. Looking further into this, I came across a site called TweetFeel. The site allows the user to type in whatever keyword is desired and receive a calculation on positive or negative Tweets about the topic. This tool could potentially be very helpful for companies to track the word-of-mouth on a particular brand. For example, the movie Inglourious Basterds has just begun its nation-wide opening weekend, but TweetFeel has already calculated the results of 62 tweets that revealed a 87% positive response to the keyword. It also displays actual Tweets so the user can see what is being said on the topic: "Inglourious Basterds is AMAZING. Go see." "[Username] thought Inglourious Basterds is amazing and wants to see it again!"
However, there are some tweaks to work out with TweetFeel. Sometimes the system picks up a tweet that contains the keyword, but may not truly reflect a negative or positive attitude toward that keyword. I searched the brand soda "Sprite" and was given 33 tweets that resulted in a 91% rate of positive tweets on the brand. However, negative tweets on the brand included ones such as, "I don't like Sprite with skittles yuck!" whereas a positive tweet on the brand included, "I need a Sprite and some skittles to regroup."
Twitter will continue to be an important tool in word-of-mouth promotion for brands and I have to agree with Dumenco when he says, "Some day soon somebody's going to get a Ph.D. in the statistical parsing of Twitter data streams -- high-concept stuff far beyond the purview of the humble Trendrr Chart of the Week." And, while I'm at it, follow Simon Dumenco on Twitter.
I gave AdGab a little makeover! It's been almost a year since I began this blog. Unfortunately it's been a little neglected due to the ever-present job hunt so I thought I'd spruce it up a bit for its first birthday. I was really getting tired of the orange template and decided to customize it a bit. Maybe the new look will inspire me to gab more than I have been these past few months. Hope you like it!
I just re-discovered this video while posting it on a friend's page. It's always made me laugh, but I like to think it explained a lot of my professor's personalities while I was studying advertising.
The Hartman Group has published an article surrounding the misconceptions of teenage usage of technology. The article is on point and very true. Though not a teen myself (thank goodness!), coaching tweens and teens sports really gave me insight into their use of social networking.
Hartman Group discusses 5 misconceptions: 1. Teens and Millennials communicate with each other via Twitter. 2. Email plays an important role in the daily lives of teens and millennials. 3. Teens are engrossed with utilizing technology to transform their lives and create cool software tools. 4. Facebook is the new Myspace for teens. 5. We can impute important learnings about future behavior by studying attitudes and behaviors of teens and millennials in their interactions with technology.
These are all extremely true. Technology does not play as important of a role in teens/tweens (or "millennials" I guess) in the way people assume. While studying advertising in my final semesters of college, it felt like the professors always wanted "Social networking!" as an outlet to reach the target audience. As long as those two magic words were said, the student was off the hook. What my professors did not understand was the truth of the 5 misconceptions above. If only this article had been published a year ago... it would have made senior year so much easier!
Lance Armstrong and Nike launched the "It's About You" campaign Sunday night. The campaign, developed by Wieden+Kennedy Portland, uses mixed media to raise cancer awareness in conjunction with the July 4th start of this year's Tour de France. The campaign's was launched with a TV spot entitled "Driven" that features Armstrong and other cancer survivors. The spot will run throughout the duration of this year's Tour de France. Being a huge cycling fan and, therefore, a huge Armstrong fan, I may be a little biased in saying that I really believe this is a great campaign. The TV spot directly addresses the negative comments that have been countlessly made towards Armstrong claiming that he is arrogant, using performance enhancing drugs, etc. The most powerful part of the ad is Armstrong's statement, "I'm not back on my bike for them." As reflected in the title of his 2001 autobiography, it's not about the bike.
Videos on YouTube will feature stories of survivors as well as those affected or inspired by the fight against cancer.
The most innovative and just down right cool part of the campaign follows in a Tour de France tradition. Chalk writing, as seen in the photo below, floods the roads on the Tour de France route displaying inspirational messages for riders. This year, viewers can submit inspirational messages through text or internet that will be displayed in yellow chalk on the Tour de France route. GPS coordinates of where the message will appear on the Tour will be sent via email giving those submitting a chance to see their message. These "Chalking" events will also occur in cities across the country including New York and Chicago and photos will be featured on the Nike website.
According to an article from Business Wire, Nike athletes will also wear yellow LIVESTRONG apparel at numerous sporting events. Men’s mile and women’s 1500 athletes wore yellow at the Prefontaine Classic June 7. Nike Golfers, including 2009 US Open champion Lucas Glover, will wear LIVESTRONG at the Travelers Championship June 22-28. Nike 6.0 BMX athletes Mike Spinner, Garrett Reynolds and Dennis Enarson will sport LIVESTRONG product June 26-27 at the Chicago stop of the Dew Tour, the most attended and viewed action sports tour in the world. Boston Red Sox pitcher and cancer survivor Jon Lester will wear a LIVESTRONG glove and spikes during the entire month of July. Sprinters Sanya Richards and LaShawn Merritt will wear LIVESTRONG uniforms and spikes at the Paris Golden League track & field meet on July 17. Nike athletes playing in the American Century Celebration Golf Tournament beginning July 14 will wear yellow.
Lance Armstrong is predicted to win the 2009 Tour de France. The win will make it his 8th Tour win overall.
Adweek announced its AdweekMedia Plan of the Year winners this week. The most intriguing of the winners is Best Use of Moble: OMD. Honestly, the campaign was just downright cool. For the Gossip Girl Season 2 Premiere, OMD designed a campaign that linked viewers with the show in real-time via text message. For anyone that is a stranger to Gossip Girl, mobile devices dominate throughout the characters as the means of communication by text messaging and updating social networking sites. OMD recognized the popularity of mobile devices within the Gossip Girl audience and enabled the audience to receive text messages from "Gossip Girl" herself as the show unfolded. OMD teamed up with Clearspring to design a widget that allowed People.com updates to mobile devices. The widget was promoted using social networking sites such as Facebook and Myspace. Ads for the widget drove traffic to the website. The campaign resulted in an increased Season 2 premiere audience as well as an increase in CW community website members. There are plans to repeat this sort of social network buzz success for the season 3 premiere.
While I do not watch Gossip Girl, I have to admit that this campaign is so cool I would have signed up for the text messages and watched the premiere just to be a part of it. Nice work, OMD.
In an attempt to jump on the Twitter promo bandwagon, Aaron Carter "tweeted" his phone number so fans could call and talk to him. After countless reads on the ONTD thread, it seems that he mostly answered the phone for a 2 second conversation that ended with "Aaron is back!" He even posted live videos of him answering the phone to prove it was the real deal. A great attempt at a publicity stunt, but it seems that only celeb gossip blogs have caught on. Posting the phone number on Twitter seems more like desperation than smart promotion. Nice try, but I don't think all the Tweeting in the world will bring Aaron C. back.
That's right, Ashton Kutcher is threatening to quit Twitter after news broke that Twitter may join up with a reality show: Kutcher Threatens to Stop Twittering.
VH1's Save the Music Foundation was been promoting music education in schools since 1997. The organization aims to raise money to provide new instruments to public schools and raise awareness of the importance of music education. According to VH1, the foundation has provided $43 million worth of new instruments to more than 1600 public schools in more than 100 cities nationwide.
The foundation uses celebrities that promote the foundation and raise money. Current celebrities, referred to as "Ambassadors," include The Fray, Natasha Bedingfield, Jason Mraz, Johnny Rzeznik, Gavin DeGraw, and Beyonce. Jason Mraz's upcoming "Gratitude Cafe Tour" will help raise money for the foundation by donating a portion of the ticket proceeds. Other Ambassadors attend SMF events and visit schools where they assist in handing out instruments and spending time with the students using them.
Save the Music also has also teamed up with a number of companies including iPopperz ear buds and LG (See the LG/SMF commercial below!). However, all these company and celebrity promotions are worthless if Save the Music cannot reach its audience. VH1 has jumped into the social networking world by using Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter to update and inform on the progress of the foundation.
Using Twitter, Save the Music can send updates to follower's phones letting them know how, where, and when a Save the Music event or fundraiser is occurring. The Twitter page displays the featured Ambassador of the month (Johnny Rzeznik) as the background image. In addition, Twitter followers benefit by get ticket sale information for favorite artists and Save the Music benefits from proceeds of the ticket sales. Save the Music's Twitter currently has 2,674 followers.
Save the Music is also taking advantage of Facebook's Fan pages. Facebook users can become a fan of the Save the Music Foundation and view the same updates as Twitter users. Additionally, Facebook users can view photos and videos of Save the Music events as well as comment and share news stories and photos posted on the fan site. Save the Music's Facebook page has over 3,600 fans.
The Save the Music Foundation can greatly benefit from using these social networking tools. For example, Save the Music was launched when I was only in elementary school. I remember a few televised concerts and commercials, but knew nothing more about the foundation other than that it aimed to raise money to save music programs in public schools. The Facebook and Twitter pages have given me the opportunity to see how far the organization has come in the past 12 years and provided me with information on how I can contribute to the foundation. Most of the Ambassador artists of the foundation are those that appeal to my age demographic and are heavy internet and social network users. Additionally, it gives the opportunity for music teachers and students that are members of these sites to become involved and pass the pages onto others (I personally suggested the page to 14 friends on Facebook). With the current economic turmoil that is resulting in even more budget cuts for schools, VH1's Save the Music Foundation will be a key part in securing music programs in public schools making it even more important for the foundation to reach its audience.
My commencement speaker, Francis Collins. While his actual speech was actually good and interesting, start at about 1:30 - it's pretty impressive, especially when you consider the fact that he is a genetic engineer!
Ever since Mac launched its Mac v. PC campaign the battle between Mac and PC has been going strong. I am a huge fan of this campaign and was interested in how PC would respond. Much to my disappointment, PC did not respond with a campaign that came anywhere close to the Mac campaign.
One of the newest PC commercials joins forces with Best Buy to tell the story of the journey of a girl that needs to buy a laptop. She begins her journey by describing her $1,000 budget and stopping by the Apple store to look at their laptops. Much to her dismay, the only laptop they that is under $1,000 is a 13" screen (because she wouldn't want to strain her eyes looking at Facebook for hours on such a small screen). So she heads over to Best Buy where she is able to get everything she needs to become a PC for under $1000. Okay, not only is this a boring commercial but I really feel the need to mention a small fact - BEST BUY SELLS APPLES. I guess in the poor economy being able to stay under a $1000 budget does sound appealing, but for all those youngsters that do not arm their PC with virus protection (or even use it, for that matter) this will quickly spiral into a much higher budget when the techies will have to be called in just to have their computer work again. I have personally been witness to a "Macboom" on campus in response to frustrated college students that were tired of their PCs failing at the most inconvenient times, but this is beside the point.
There are other aspects of the PC campaign that just do not work. Take, for example, the following two commercials:
Wow, aren't they cute? Thanks Kylie and Alexis for reminding all of those computer illiterates that as long as they have the intelligence level of a child from 4 to 7-years-old they too can use a PC! I hope those parental email controls are keeping Kylie from opening bad email.
The original "I'm a PC" TV spots were a bit better:
A great effort to build a PC brand community, but the ads fall short. I would really love this spot if it didn't seem like such a rip off of the Mac spots. Plus, the ad does not do much to break that PC stereotype set by the Mac campaign.
Maybe I am being biast... I am a Mac & a brand loyal member of the Apple community. I have had my Mac for almost 4 years now and it is still running strong. However, in the world of advertising I am still waiting for something big from PC that will make me say to people, "Yeah, I'm a Mac. I love my Mac, but being a PC is just as good." But while PC figures that out, Mac has moved onto being the Greenest Family of Notebooks.
Frito-Lay launched a new Made for Each Other campaign this past February. After seeing a few of the TV spots over the past month and a half or so I have to be honest - I am still confused. I understand that Frito-Lay's chips and dips are made for each other. The message is quite clear, but the way the message is delivered loses me. I do not understand what yellow & blue dots turning green have to do with chips and dip (and I still think they ripped off my kindergarten teacher who used the same type of story 16 years ago to teach us that blue and yellow make green). Yes, they are "made for each other" in the little green-dot world. Magnets with opposite charges? Made for each other. Chips & dip ... made for each other. Still not seeing the connection between these "made for each other" items and the chips & dip. Maybe I'm just looking into it too much, but what I get from it is cute little stories that do nothing to make me want to go out and purchase chips and dip...
The 4 minute report emphasizes on a sense of great mystery as to why consumers are so unhappy with the new packaging. The reporters discuss consumers wanting a sense of control in an unstable economy, etc. etc. That's just mumble jumble. The fact of the matter is clear: consumers want the orange with the straw. What seems to baffle the reporters even more is why the consumers want that image back. While Linda Kaplan Thalers goes on about how the straw in the orange represents pure and nautural juice what she is really missing is the fact that the orange with the straw is Tropicana's brand symbol. This symbol evokes brand recoginition with the consumer. So while it may very well represent pure juice, to consumers it represents much more. It evokes the familiarity of thebrand with which consumers have built a trusting relationship. Tropicana without its straw-in-orange is Target without its bullseye, Nike without its Swoosh, and Tiffany without its blue box.
I still like the new look for Tropicana, but then again - I don't even drink orange juice.
In today's brandfreak.com post, Robert Klara discusses the PR crisis cleanup of the recent Michael Phelps flop:
Case 2: In a public statement, Phelps admitted that his November inhalation of loco weed represented "bad judgment."But then he used his age as an excuse: "I'm 23 years old" and acted "in a youthful and inappropriate way," he carped. (No doubt, dude—but you've got $100 million in endorsements at stake.) Fortunately for Phelps, there's still a little time. "I would like to see him tell his fans, many of whom are children, that he made a big mistake—and he should mean it," veteran PR man Sam Chapman tells BrandFreak. "The key to successful crisis communications is being authentic." Put that in your pipe and ... y'know.
I disagree with Chapman. If the key to successful crisis communication is being authentic, then Phelps saying he made a mistake would be lying and that would not be authentic. However, his response was authentic. Yes, he is an Olympic gold medalist and record holder, but he is also a 23-year-old. What does the public think most other 20-something-year-old males are doing when they go out at night? If it's not what Phelps was doing, then it's probably drinking & driving. But I digress... these "children" that are his fans probably don't even know what a bong hit is nor are they watching Entertainment Tonight or reading Perezhilton.com. If they do know what it is (or reading perezhilton.com), then their parents/guardians have bigger fish to fry.
Thank goodness for Bridgestone Tires. Not only did they sponsor an awesome half-time show (BRUUUCE!), but their Tater spot topped my list of best ads of the 2009 Super Bowl. The overall performance of most Super Bowl spots this year was less than spectacular, but Bridgestone definitely entertained.
Bridgestone: Tater
Not only was Mrs. Potato Head's constant nagging something male AND female viewers could relate to and be amused by, Bridgestone really sealed the laughing deal with the angry eyes. Check it out:
Pepsi: Refresh Anthem
Pepsi's new campaign is one of my favorites. It is a smart campaign that helps connect the past to the present using pop culture and historic moments while still maintaining a focus on the Pepsi brand. The commercial uses music to thread the split past/present scenes together and, considering the fact that I sang along to every word of Springsteen's "Glory Days" - a song released years before I was born - during the half-time show, this was an affective way to connect with consumers old and young.
GE: Scarecrow
Despite my dislike for The Wizard of OZ (it creeps me out), this spot was another one of my favorites. GE's tag line "Imagination at Work" was well represented in its Super Bowl commercial and the commercial strongly reflected the brand's message. This was one of the more creative and well-thought-out commercials this year.
With the good always come the bad and this year there were some really bad. I will start with godaddy.com.
Godaddy.com: Shower
This commercial simply made me say "What the hell? What the hell was that even for? That was horrible." If I were to describe the brand based on the message reflected in this ad, the words I would use are: Cheap, trashy, unintelligent, bland. This was by far the worst spot during the Super Bowl this year. Shame on godaddy.com for trying to use such low-class sexually-related material to drive consumers to its website.
SoBe: Lizards 3D
Not that this commercial was horrible, but there were some things about it that earned it a spot in the bottom. First, I've felt this way since last year: Lizards = Slimy and I don't want slimy, lizardy water. Though the lizard has always been a symbol of SoBe the computer animated version just makes it icky and not something I want to associate with my drinking water. Second, though the concept was cute, it kind of felt like a rip off of the recent Justin Timberlake/Beyonce "Single Ladies" SNL parody. The commercial was presented in 3D, but really - 3D technology isn't anything new. Not the worst, but SoBe could do better.
Bud Light: Drinkability
I was disappointed with the Anheuser-Busch commercials this year. Usually they rank up in my favorites, but this year's Bud Light, Budweiser, and Budweiser America commercials just didn't do it for me. Even the Budweiser horse commercials failed to make me smile. Instead of funny and entertaining they were slap-humor stupid. Nothing about watching a skier crash down a mountain and into picnic tables makes me want a Bud Light nor does it warrant any creative applause. Better luck next year.
Which spots were your favorites and which do you think failed to entertain?
The new gym-members are not the only ones getting a body makeover for the new year. Tropicana has introduced its made-over carton. They have ditched the old straw-in-the-orange and given Tropicana a look that will help differentiate it from brands that had similar cartons such as Minute Made. Simple, clean, and my favorite part - the screw cap is a little orange!
The website boasts, "New fresh carton. Same Great taste. There's a fresh new package just for you. Everybody has their favorite Tropicana. Some people like pulp. Some prefer no pulp. Others want a taste of strawberry or banana with their orange juice. The package is new and the variety names may have changed a bit, but we've still got your favorite Tropicana."
The Super Bowl is just a few weeks away, but with the current state of the economy I am anxious to see if viewer's will be receiving the same laugh-out-loud quality of commercials that have been the result of past year's advertising efforts. According to Anthony Crupi of Mediaweek, NBC has reported having sixty-seven $3 million spots left, but a media buyer survey claimed that only a baker's dozen remained.
Last year the commercial's were pretty disappointing, most being for FOX's own shows. This is what I am hoping for this February 1st (Since the Giant's won't be playing) when NBC puts on the big show:
Anheuser-Busch has continually delivered on creativity for Super Bowl Sunday and is sure to entertain this year.
Mac. I already own one, but that makes me love the truth behind the commercials even more. Mac hit it big with its 1984 Super Bowl Commercial and I am hoping that Mac will be paying that $3 million to do it again this year.
E-Trade. The baby spot was the most memorable for me in 2008 so I am looking forward to what they come up with during a time when the stock market is a mess.
If these three companies do not hit it big during Super Bowl Sunday, at least Bruce will entertain at half time. What are your favorite Super Bowl Spots?
